Man can't find phone after boarding plane, verbally abuses airline staff member and kicks aerobridge
A 57-year-old British man will be charged in court on March 17 for allegedly using abusive words against an airline staff and mischief causing destruction to property at Changi Airport Terminal, said police in a new release on March 16.
The police were alerted to a man shouting and being rude to a female airline staff member and damaging a wall in a gate hold room on March 8.
Investigations revealed that after boarding the aircraft for his flight from Singapore to London, he realised that he had misplaced his mobile phone.
He left the aircraft, hoping to search for it at the airport lounge where he was at earlier.
When he approached the airline staff member at the gate hold room, she assisted by checking with the airport lounge staff and told him that no mobile phone was found in the airport lounge.
As it was close to the scheduled departure time of the flight, she informed the man that leaving the gate hold room would result in him being offloaded from the flight.
He allegedly responded with a slew of abusive and derogatory words. As he walked away towards the aircraft, he kicked and damaged a wall panel of the aerobridge.
The man was eventually offloaded from his flight, and officers from the Airport Police Division were called in.
He will be charged with using abusive words against a person, which carries a fine not exceeding $5,000m imprisonment of up to six months or both.
Another charge is committing mischief causing destruction to property which carries an imprisonment of up to two years, a fine, or both.
Assistant Commissioner of Police M. Malathi, Commander of Airport Police Division, said: "Any form of harassment or abusive behaviour toward airport and airline staff is not tolerated as it disrupts airport operations and jeopardises the safety of the staff and their ability to perform their duties effectively."
